Johnson Financial Group Inc. Acquires 61 Shares of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI)

Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE:URI) by 77.2% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 140 shares of the construction company’s stock after buying an additional 61 shares during the period. Johnson Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in United Rentals were worth $106,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in shares of United Rentals during the third quarter worth approximately $2,147,000. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of United Rentals by 8.1% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 8,295 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $6,717,000 after acquiring an additional 624 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in shares of United Rentals by 8.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 634 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $513,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of United Rentals by 6.1% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 996,014 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $862,110,000 after acquiring an additional 57,002 shares during the period. Finally, American Trust boosted its holdings in shares of United Rentals by 206.3% during the third quarter. American Trust now owns 1,207 shares of the construction company’s stock worth $977,000 after acquiring an additional 813 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 96.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

URI has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded United Rentals from an “underperform” rating to a “market perform” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $705.00 to $666.00 in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Morgan Stanley upgraded United Rentals from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and set a $702.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on United Rentals from $1,000.00 to $750.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Baird R W upgraded United Rentals from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on United Rentals from $535.00 to $571.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, United Rentals currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $725.69.

United Rentals Stock Down 2.0 %

Shares of URI opened at $634.70 on Monday. United Rentals, Inc. has a one year low of $525.91 and a one year high of $896.98. The company has a market cap of $41.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.42, a current ratio of 0.98 and a quick ratio of 0.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $615.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $725.87.

United Rentals (NYSE:URI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 23rd. The construction company reported $8.86 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $8.92 by ($0.06). United Rentals had a net margin of 16.78% and a return on equity of 34.21%. The firm had revenue of $3.72 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.61 billion. Research analysts forecast that United Rentals, Inc. will post 44.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

United Rentals Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 28th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, May 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.79 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, May 14th. This represents a $7.16 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.13%. United Rentals’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 18.54%.

Insider Transactions at United Rentals

In other news, CFO William E. Grace sold 1,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $638.10, for a total transaction of $701,910.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 6,880 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,390,128. This represents a 13.78 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.53% of the company’s stock.

United Rentals Company Profile

United Rentals, Inc, through its subsidiaries, operates as an equipment rental company. It operates in two segments, General Rentals and Specialty. The General Rentals segment rents general construction and industrial equipment includes backhoes, skid-steer loaders, forklifts, earthmoving equipment, and material handling equipment; aerial work platforms, such as boom and scissor lifts; and general tools and light equipment comprising pressure washers, water pumps, and power tools for construction and industrial companies, manufacturers, utilities, municipalities, homeowners, and government entities.